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Genus Pan (Philippines, 2020) [SDAFF 2020]
Genus Pan is in the minority of Lav Diaz’ narratives. Diaz’ narratives are once infested by an enlightened intellectual, intruders or visitors like in Pasolini’s Teorema (1968), often talking down to people or spouting sophistries. What Genus Pan does is not to provide a platform for these intruders to speak further, but to give a suspicious look against these enlightened…
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Death of Nintendo (Philippines/USA, 2020) [LAAPFF 2020]
How does it feel to come of age at the end of history? Set in the early days of Francis Fukuyama’s declaration, Death of Nintendo finds the end of history building up in the lives of the kids from a 1990s provincial suburbia, the same time frame director Raya Martin’s last film, Smaller and Smaller Circles (2017) was set.…
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They Say Nothing Stays the Same (Japan, 2019) [NYAFF 2020]
Troubled times require clarification, which often requires a troubled approach. Japanese cinema is not alien to attempts to make sense of trouble with trouble; of violence with violence. Written and directed by actor Joe Odagiri, They Say Nothing Stays the Same contributes to this growing strand of Japanese cinema with an observation of classical Japanese storytelling and…
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Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula (South Korea, 2020)
Both writer-director Yeon Sang-ho and his latest film, Peninsula, bear the burden of heavy expectations. But this sequel to his worldwide blockbuster hit, Train to Busan (2016) and the third film in the franchise along with the animated feature, Seoul Station (2016) is not just confident, it really delivers. While it might not necessarily please those who are expecting something close…
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A Thousand Cuts (USA, 2020)
The alarm was sounded around the middle of the last decade on disinformation campaigns deemed to threaten social institutions founded on managing free-flowing information. It’s an issue that would have been resolved promptly if only the suspected progenitors of such campaigns did not come from governments themselves, as happened in the developed countries of the…
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On-Gaku: Our Sound (Japan, 2019) [JAPAN CUTS 2020]
Kenji Iwaisawa’s debut film, On-Gaku: Our Sound, responds positively to the youth-oriented, music-centered movie checklist. This animated adaptation of Hiroyuki Ohashi’s manga is lively, electric, infectious, and hopeful. What the film uniquely adds is a character – a tone – that affects you both visually and aurally. We follow Kenji (given life by the voice of…
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Honeygiver Among the Dogs (Bhutan, 2016)
Dechen Roder’s debut feature Honeygiver Among the Dogs is quite a unique film whose particular charm depends on its blend of seemingly incompatible approaches. Present in the film are enduring elements of neo noir (femme fatale, myths that construct the world and surrounds it with more mystery) but unevenly paced story telling may drive some audience members…
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Shadowplay (Malaysia, 2019)
At first glance, Shadowplay is conceptually shambolic. Co-written and directed by Tony Pietra Arjuna, it takes a stylistic approach to noir which pushes the neon-drenched aesthetic of recent films by Nicolas Winding Refn down a Lynchian rabbit hole. Shadowplay crosses between two waking lives as if the other is a daydream, tipping into the realm of the supernatural based…
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Ip Man 4: The Finale (China/Hong Kong, 2019)
Ip Man 4: The Finale will give not just martial arts fans, but moviegoers in general, a treat. Director Wilson Yip has ended the series with a great sense of balance. While it delivers the barrage of punch and kicks that the Ip Man series has become known for, Ip Man 4 also provides intriguing insights into the contemporary realities…